Station Twenty-two (and Three Quarters)

You know a sandwich is good when it takes you a day and a half to stop thinking about it. This story is about one of those sandwiches.

There’s a tale of boy who runs into a train station wall and is magically transported to a magical school. I don’t know a whole lot about magic (JK — I do), but running into Station 22 is almost as magical as running into a wall.

This little sandwich shop is located on Center Street, which means that eating here is a hipster adventure. The vibe is a step more hipster than Guru’s: the menu is shorter and seasonal (meaning it’s based off of ingredients available during that time of year), the space is smaller (giving it a cozy feel), it’s filled with the randomest knickknacks (like cowboy boots and toy ships on shelves, sheet music used as light covers, and hunting mounts hanging on walls), and you drink out of MASON JARS. But, like Guru’s, it’s not a gross hipster place (I’m sure the people here wash their hands and take showers).

The specialty here is sandwiches and the prices are pretty reasonable. Most menu items run around $10.

I ordered the Memphis Chicken Sandwich. This sandwich is made of the crispiest, juiciest piece of fried chicken you can imagine, topped with red cabbage coleslaw and a spicy butter glaze, placed lovingly in a ciabatta bun. I was a little nervous about the red cabbage slaw since, for the most part, I don’t believe in pickled foods, but it worked on this sandwich.

Memphis Chicken Sandwich with fries

The chicken is the best piece of fried chicken you’ve ever tasted: tender, juicy, and crunchy all at once; the coleslaw gives the sandwich the tiniest taste of sour, the cabbage adding a delicate crunch to every bite; and the spicy glaze gives the whole ensemble the slightest little zing. All the flavors stand out from each other, but they simultaneously work together. This sandwich was deeyyyuuung good — I literally couldn’t stop thinking about it all the next day (the fact that I was in church until 4:30 may or may not have had something to do with that).

The fries were good: crispy, delicious. I’ve also sampled their sweet potato wedges and those are DANG good. However, the fry sauce here is gross — I can’t eat it. It tastes too mustardy and Gordy don’t like mustard. I asked for barbecue sauce instead, but even that was gross — it tasted bitter (come to think of it, they may have given me Worcestershire sauce instead of barbecue sauce … not sure why). Best to stick with ketchup ’round these parts.

I came here on a date and my date ordered the Club 22. She say it was good (like, she really liked it). I’ve been here a couple times on dates and neither me nor my dates have ever been disappointed (but I will say I prefer their sandwiches to their burgers).